Vijay 69 Review: Star Rating:
Cast: Anupam Kher, Chunky Panday, Mihir Ahuja and others
Director: Akshaya Roy
Streaming On: Netflix
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes
Vijay 69 Review: What’s It About:
If the actors in this industry struggle with something, it is age-specific and age-relevant roles. Everyone is waiting for that age-appropriate role, from Hema Malini to Jaya Bachchan and Dharmendra to Govinda. However, the tragedy is that once in a while, when this opportunity arrives for an actor who is a delight for a director, it gets compromised due to a badly written script.
If there is one man in the industry who has been nailing aged roles since his Jawani, it is Anupam Kher undoubtedly. Now, at an old age, he is finally playing an old man again, but the irony is this time, he does not look like an old man convincing enough to make you move to tears, just like he did the first time in Saaransh! And who is to blame for this tragedy? Not Kher, to begin with!
Yash Raj Films decided to make something about the lonely, retired youth of this country after Sooraj Barjatya attempted Uunchai, another tale about elderly people. However, while the former was also not a masterpiece, the latter is a disaster of another level, despite Anupam Kher trying hard to shoulder this script soaked overnight with some dramatic dialogues to make it heavy!
Vijay 69 Review: Script Analysis:
Vijay 69 is about a man called Vijay (do not remember his surname) who is obviously 69 years of age and is worried about his Eulogy. The film starts on an interesting note about Vijay’s mistaken death and his friend giving him a final tribute with a speech in the church, only to see Vijay arriving at getting appalled at the frivolous speech!
He decides to make his life worthy enough to be remembered with praise and accolades, and this is the only motive for his remaining life – To die famous! The rest of the film is a shoddy accumulation of Vijay trying to achieve a dream he has just seen – to become someone who might be remembered with respect after his death!
As one of the characters in the film tells Anupam Kher – you are 30 years late; when he decides to complete a triathlon as the world’s oldest man to complete a triathlon at 69, I wonder if someone could tell Yash Raj Films the thought is good but the story makes absolutely no sense!
Vijay 69 Review: Star Performance:
When the film was announced, a lot of people confused it with Thalapathy 69, the last film of Thalapathy Vijay, before he finally slips into his new profession as a politician. Thalapathy is a Tamil word that means commander or leader! In the true sense, Anupam Kher tries to turn Thalapathy into his life in this film, and his struggle is relevant. In fact, he even succeeds in parts, but what is a commander or a leader without a mission or an army to command? In Vijay 69’s case, Anupam Kher, despite trying hard to turn Thalapathy into true sense, does not shine since there is no story or emotion that leads to his success!
The bunch of friends played by Guddi Maruti, Chunky Panday and others are not important to the story. So is the daughter, played by Sulagna Panigrahi!
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Vijay 69 Review: Direction:
Akshay, is credited as the director of Meri Pyari Bindu was supposed to create a story that should have only relied on magical moments here. Right from the scene when Anupam Kher’s Vijay decides to write his achievements on his piece of paper but the camera freezes on that blank page with one line – Bronze Medalist in National Swimming Championship.
In the entire film, I cannot figure out anything about Vijay if he is rich or not. After much of the story passed away, I came to know that he is a man who did not have a glorious profession to boast off. He was a swimming coach!
Now, a swimming coach deciding to turn into a triathlon athlete makes sense, but looking at Anupam Kher, cycling, swimming, or running never pumps you enough. He never looks like a former athlete for a fraction of a second at all! Probably, this was the biggest irony that a script such poor could not afford a fit, healthy, and young old man who did not look the part he was supposed to nail! Neither Akshay Roy’s writing impresses nor his treatment of the story!
Vijay 69 Review: What Doesn’t Work:
However, my problem with Vijay 69 is bigger here. My problem is also with a production house like Yash Raj Films, not trying to make any sense and instilling my 65-year-old mother into a barrage of insecurities, making every older person think they haven’t achieved anything in life if they do not have something to be remembered for. I mean, really? Is life and experience that frivolous?
A man who is 69, who has raised a daughter and raised her well despite financial struggles, educated her, got her married, fought with a wife dying of cancer, grieved but never succumbed to the loss, still living life in jest, has friends, can curse, is lively, can even make 18-year-old children is friends, still coaches young kids to swim – a man who has literally lived for everyone does not find his life achievement? While this might be a temporary thought, why cement it in anyone’s life like a verdict? A man who just needed reassurance from his family, peers, and friends that every single day of your life was worth celebrating and it was an achievement!
And suddenly, this man, despite having at least ten people in his life, has to seek inspiration, courage, and motivation from his dead wife, who seems too superficial – not because the thought could not exist, but because it was bizarrely incorporated in the script.
The film in shades is about a man fighting loneliness, who finds a friend in an 18 year old – a rival from the triathlon but even that angle is left unexplored as if the director was totally uninterested to explore this relationship. In fact, it could have been more entertaining if Chunky Panday had played Vijay, and at least one could empathize with his struggle. Anupam Kher’s struggle, which is 100 times more because of an unimpressive script, is so visible that it is hard to ignore. Let us not get started with the bizarre choice of his sportswear costumes and their flashy choice of colors, making him look funny and confusing me enough to understand if I need to laugh at this old man or empathize. After a point, everything in this film stops making sense. There was a boy played by Mihir Ahuja whose dad behaved with him like a d*ck for no reason at all! No father in his sane mind behaves that way with their child, and I am not sure what Akshay Roy was thinking or what his references are, and more importantly, why?!
Vijay 69 Review: Last Words:
Vijay 69 was something that could have been a tale to keep safe in one’s heart. Like a Piku or even 102 Not Out, for that matter. But it means nothing. My only question is, why did we need this film in the first place?
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The post Vijay 69 Movie Review: Anupam Kher Turns Thalapathy In True Sense But Dear Yash Raj Films Here’s Why It Didn’t Make Sense! appeared first on Koimoi.